Day one, afternoon: Hanoi

After lunch Gary took a well-deserved jet-lag-induced nap while Mary Lou and the rest of the gang assembled in front of the hotel for a rickshaw ride.  Most of us were a little trepidatious about getting into a tiny man-powered conveyance in the middle of all those whizzing motor scooters, cars, and trucks, but the drivers were fantastic and the street-level experience of Hanoi's Old Quarter was truly incredible!    Here I am in my chariot, and here is the parade of rickshaws as we set out!

Unfortunately my camera battery died as soon as this photo was taken, but where are some from CNN that capture the experience rather nicely!  It was exhilarating and just plain fantastic!  

 After we left the rickshaws it was time for the water puppet show, which kind of reminded me of what would happen if the residents of Mister Rogers’s Neighborhood of Make-Believe decided to put on a water ballet.  It was hot in the theatre and the show was perhaps not my cup of tea, but others in our group loved it, so this was definitely a YMMV type of cultural event.  Certainly it was worth seeing just for  horizon-broadening purposes!

 

Back to the hotel, where I found Gary refreshed and ready to go!  We set out in search of souvenir refrigerator magnets and ended up walking all the way back to the Old Quarter and circumambulating Hoan Kiem Lake.  The city was beautiful and night and as busy and bustling as it had been in the daytime! 

Then back to the hotel for a dinner of pho before falling into bed and sleeping the sleep of the truly overwhelmed!